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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Ruben Diaz Sr. Still Amazes Us

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, April 18- Before I get into our headline, Saturday night rocked and socked as there was standing room only at the ECPW Wresting event at St. Francis Xavier. The wrestlers battled it out in seven grueling matches, signed autographs, and mingled with the audience. I have many great photos of the wrestlers and matches on my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com so if you can see what you missed.

As for State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr., Saturday afternoon The New York Hispanic Clergy Organization inc. held its 25th Anniversary Banquet. The ballroom was packed with over 600 people including two of the top four Democratic, and the two top Republican candidates for mayor. Democrats New York City Comptroller John Liu, & former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, Republicans former MTA head John Lhota & supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Bronx Assemblymen Marcos Crespo & Luis Sepulveda, and other minor candidates for mayor such as former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion and Rev. Erick Salgado.

One could see the pandering to the audience with the use of a few words of Spanish said by several of the candidates, and how each tried to tie their roots to the Bronx. Missing was the leading candidate for mayor City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, but while she was invited no one expected Quinn to come with in a mile of the banquet let alone the Bronx. You can go to my blog to see just which politician came to try and sway the powerful Hispanic Clergy swing vote. Also is a photo of Senator Diaz standing in the middle of the two Republican candidates for mayor with his arms firmly around both candidates.

Speaking of mayoral candidates, City Council Speaker Quinn was on Fordham Road last Sunday with State Senator Gustavo Rivera to get his endorsement. So far Senator Rivera is the only Bronx elected official that I know of who has openly endorsed Quinn for mayor, and I have to wonder why so many Bronx council members have said that they are refusing to endorse their speaker Christine Quinn for mayor.

Mayoral candidate Christine Quinn avoided a mayoral candidates forum that was held at Monroe College last week held by the City Action Coalition. City Councilman Pastor Fernando Cabrera opened the mayoral forum by introducing Monroe College President Steven Jerome who gave a wonderful description of the college and its offerings. Topics of discussion after opening statements included allowing faith based organizations use of school buildings during non school hours, sex education, who would be schools chancellor and police commissioner, and the stop and frisk policy. I asked several people if they had any opinion on Speaker Quinn's absence the answers ranged from “WHO?” to “that's how much she cares about the Bronx”.

87th A.D. Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda had the grand opening of his new (and the former Assemblyman Peter Rivera's old) office which is located at 1973 Westchester Avenue near the Hugh Grant Circle at Metropolitan Avenue. The phone number for Assemblyman Sepulveda's office is 718-931-2620. You can see photos of Assemblyman Sepulveda's office on my blog.

Zaro's Bread Basket a long time fixture at the corner of Westchester and Metropolitan Avenues was closed on April 9th by the New York City Health Department. There was a pending grade notice pending dated March 23rd.

Finally the Bronx Chamber of Commerce held their Women of Distinction luncheon last week with Ms. Juliet Papa of 1010 WINS fame as the Mistress of Ceremony. Ms. Brittany Mitchell (of Preston High School) sang the national anthem, and Sister Seline Mary Flores (of Providence Rest Nursing Home) gave the invocation. BCC President Lenny Caro gave the opening remarks as NYC Department of Corrections Commissioner Dora B. Schribo gave the Keynote Speech. The honorees were NYPD Deputy Inspector Nilda Hoffmann and Dean of Studies at Preston High School Linda Youngren. There were five one thousand dollar scholarship awards given to Zoraya Almonte, Faith Daniels, Selene Munoz, Rosalias Read, and Yaritza Rendon. You can go to my blog to see the honorees and recipients of the scholarship awards and other upcoming events being held by the Bronx Chamber of Commerce or go to their website at www.bronxchamber.org.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.